The present invention relates to casino gaming. More specifically, the present invention relates to systems and methods for conducting and tracking transactions at table games and other locations on the floor of a casino or other gaming establishment. Casino gaming is a multibillion dollar industry in which table games remain an immensely popular form of gaming and a substantial source of revenue. Table games include Poker, Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Pai-Gow, Caribbean Stud, Spanish 21 and Let it Ride, among many others.
A primary concern of casinos is the management and tracking of gaming chips, markers or plaques used by players and casino personnel to make wagers, pay out winnings and the like. In the United States, gaming chips typically come in various denominations such as one dollar, five dollars, twenty-five dollars, one hundred dollars, one thousand dollars and ten thousand dollars. Other countries use a wide variety of denominations and currencies for gaming chips. Due to the gaming chip's value and importance in tracking their use, various systems have been developed for tracking gaming chip transactions. For example, numerous U.S. patents describe the use of radio frequency identification (“RFID”) tags incorporated into a gaming chip for identifying and tracking the gaming chips within a casino, and even upon a gaming table. Gaming chips including an RFID tag are read using RFID readers employing various antenna in a casino, such as within a casino vault, casino chip tray or casino gaming table. To track player involvement, it is known to provide a separate antenna reader at each player position.
Unfortunately, basic RFID gaming chips suffer from several drawbacks. For example, the various RFID antenna within a gaming table often fail to detect gaming chips nearby, but will often read gaming chips at other positions. Alternatively, gaming chips can be read by more than one antenna providing a false indication that a gaming chip is in two places at once. In addition, it has been proven to be extremely difficult to read all of the chips within a large stack of chips. A large number of randomly unstacked chips is also difficult to read by RFID antenna.
Thus, there is a need for a system for accurately and automatically tracking gaming chips through a casino and particularly at a gaming table. Furthermore, it would be desirable to provide improved gaming chips which incorporate greater security features within the RFID tags.